Chapter CXLIV: The Chapter of the Arrival(1.)

The first gate. He whose face is overturned, who has many attributes, is the name of the occupant of the first gate. The adjuster, is the name of the warden thereof, and he with the loud voice the name of the herald.

The second gate. He who raises his face, is the name of the occupant of the second gate; he with the revolving face(2.) is the name of the warden thereof; the consuming one is the name of the herald.

The third gate. He who eats his own filth, is the name of the occupant. The watchful, is the name of the warden thereof, the curser is the name of the herald.

The fourth gate. He who opposes garrulity, is the name of the occupant of the fourth gate; the attentive one is the name of the warden thereof, the great one who drives back the crocodile is the name of the herald.

The fifth gate. He who lives on worms, is the name of its occupant, the consuming flame, is the name of the warden thereof, the horn which strikes the furious, is the name of the herald.

The sixth gate. He who makes the loaves, with a thundering voice, is the name of its occupant; he who shows his face, is the name of the warden thereof, the stoneknife which belongs to the sky, is the name of the herald.

The seventh gate. He who takes possession(3.) of their knives, is the name of the occupant of the seventh gate; the high voice is the name of the warden thereof, he who drives back the enemies is the name of the herald.

O ye, these gates, who are the gates to Osiris, ye who guard their gates, ye who herald the things of the world to Osiris every day. Osiris _N._ knows you—he knows your names; for he is born in Restau, where all the glory of the horizon was given him. _N._ receives the investiture in Pu, like the purification of Osiris. _N._ receives the saying(4.) in Restau, when he leads the gods on the horizon with the ministrant, the protectors of Osiris. I am one of them in their leading. _N._ is the glorious one, the lord of the glorious, a glorious one who performs the rites. _N._ celebrates the festival of the first day of the month; he is the herald in the fifteenth day of the month. O thou who revolvest. _N._ carries the sacred flame to the hand of Thoth in the night when he sails through the sky as victor. _N._ passes on in peace, he navigates in the boat of Rā. The attributes(5.) of _N._ are the attributes of the boat of Rā. _N._ has a name greater than yours, mightier than you who are on the roads of Maāt. _N._ hates what is corrupt. The attributes of _N._ are the attributes of Horus, the firstborn of Rā, who accomplishes his will. _N._ is not fettered, he is not driven away from the gates of Osiris. _N._ is perfect, the lion god, the pure one who follows Osiris Khent Amenta every day. His domains are in Sechet hotepu among those who know the sacred rites, among those who perform the sacred rites to Osiris. _N._ is on the side of Thoth, among those who bring offerings. Anubis ordered to the bearers of offerings, that there should be offerings to _N._ of his own, and that they should not be taken from him by those who are in captivity. _N._ has come like Horus, when he adorns the horizon of heaven _N._ directs the march of Rā towards the gates of the horizon; therefore the gods rejoice in the presence of _N._ The divine scent(6.) is upon Osiris, the god with the lock(7.) will not reach him; the keepers of the gates will not be hostile to him. _N._ is the one whose face is hidden inside the palace, in the sanctuary of the god, the lord of Tuat. _N._ has reached it after Hathor. _N._ gathers his hosts; he brings Maāt to Rā, he drives away the Mighty One, Apepi. _N._ pierces the steel firmament(8.), and repels the raging storm; he gives life to the seamen of Rā. _N._ carries offerings to the place where it (the boat) is. _N._ causes that the boat gives him a successful voyage. _N._ marches, and when he reaches it, the face of _N._ is like the Great One, and his back like the lofty one. _N._ is the lord of the mighty. _N._ is well pleased on the horizon. _N._ is valiant; he strikes you down; you wakers; he makes his way to your lord, Osiris.

This is on the copy which is in the books(9.). It is written in yellow ink, on the sacred circle of gods in the boat of Rā(10.), where offerings are made of victuals, geese, incense, in their presence, in order to revive the deceased, to make him powerful among the gods, and that he may not be repulsed nor driven back from the pylons of the Tuat. If thou readest it to the statue of this deceased in their presence, it causes him to have access to every hall of those which are in the books.

This is said at the entrance of every gate, of those which are in the books, and to each of them an offering is made of the haunch, the head, the heart, and the hoof of a red bull, and four vases of blood which does not come from the heart, and scent vases, and sixteen pointed white loaves, and eight round loaves, and eight _chenfu_ loaves, and eight _hebennu_ loaves, eight casks of beer, eight vases of dry corn, four tanks of earthenware filled with the milk of a white cow, fresh herbs, fresh olive oil, green eye paint, antimony, odoriferous oils, and burning incense. Said while putting on a clay seal twice.

After this copy has been read, if the fourth hour is going round in the day, beware of what is threatening in the sky; but if thou hast read this book without any human being seeing it, it will widen the steps of the deceased in heaven or earth, and in the Tuat; because this book exalts the deceased more than any ceremony performed to him, henceforth, from this day undeviatingly for times infinite.

NOTES.

This chapter is the first of a series of four (144-147), in which the old versions differ considerably from the Turin text. 144 and 147 refer to the ⁂⁂⁂, 145 and 146 to the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂.

The word ⁂⁂⁂ has been translated in various ways. Brugsch calls them “watch-towers, pylons,” Pierret “stations.” Maspero considers them as the old “ergastules,” a kind of vaulted hall. Jéquier speaks of them as “magazines,” but generally translates the word by “pylons.” Renouf, in his introduction to the Papyrus of Ani, calls the ⁂⁂⁂ “gates,” and the ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ “pylons.” In another place he says the ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is not a mere gate, but a _hold_ or _keep_.

If we refer to the old texts where this chapter is mixed together with chapter 146, we see that the ⁂⁂⁂ is a door, a gate, which has to be passed in order to reach the ⁂⁂⁂⁂. Behind each ⁂⁂⁂ a ⁂⁂⁂⁂ is represented as a shrine close to which is its god. And also in the book called ⁂⁂⁂, _the book of what is in the Tuat_, we see that Rā has to go through the ⁂⁂⁂ and make a long navigation before he reaches the gods of the Tuat.

144 and 147 are two different versions of the same chapter, and no old papyrus has them both. It is the same with chapters 145 and 146. Evidently before the Saitic period, for these chapters, as for the 15th, there was no received text, and the writers had the choice between various versions which the compilers of the Turin text collected together. There are seven ⁂⁂⁂, and the deceased who approaches them has to know three names; first, the ⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂ whom Renouf calls _the porter_, evidently from his being styled in chapter 147 ⁂⁂⁂⁂. But if we consider that in some of the old papyri the name of the man is that of the gate itself, ⁂⁂⁂⁂ has to be translated _he who belongs to_, the occupant, the inhabitant, a sense which does not disagree with the word ⁂⁂⁂⁂ since, according to Oriental customs, the master of a house is generally met with at the door, at the entrance.

The _doorkeeper_, the _watcher_ (Budge), or the _warder_ (Renouf), is the second person, ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ _he who guards the gate_. The third person ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂, as the text says reports to Osiris every day the things of the world, and I suppose also, who is coming towards the gate. Renouf calls this person _the teller_. I shall use the word _herald_, which I adopted previously.

In the six old texts which I collated, we find only the reciting of the three names. The Papyrus of Nu in the British Museum alone contains the allocution to the gates of the Turin text. It is therefore from the Papyrus of Nu that this chapter has been translated. (Budge, _The Book of the Dead_.)

1. The title is taken from Papyrus _Ax_. The Turin text calls this chapter “_the chapter of knowing the occupants of the seven gates_.”

2. A flame, judging from the determinative ⁂.

3. ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ as we read in chapter 147.

4. ⁂⁂⁂ _N._ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ lit. “receives the saying.” I suppose it means receives the right or the privilege to say the words which follow: “I am one of them.”

5. ⁂⁂⁂⁂ a word which has various meanings. Renouf translates: “protection, safeguard, powers, attributes.” I believe in many cases it corresponds to what we call “the nature,” and that it is used as a periphrase instead of an abstract adjective, which does not exist in Egyptian. The real sense of such an expression ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ ⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂ seems to be ‘such as he is, such am I, and such is Rā.’

6. I read with the Turin text ⁂⁂⁂⁂. The papyrus _Pb_, which reproduces this sentence in an addition to 136A writes ⁂⁂⁂.

7. ⁂⁂⁂. ‘The god of the lock, or the curling god,’ another name for ⁂⁂⁂ Apepi, an evil power which must be driven away.